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Valita
}} Valita is an elven Ranger appearing in Clash of the Dragons, the fourth part of Heroes Chronicles. Background When the Elf King Eldrich Parson learned that the overlords of Nighon had gotten their hands on the Vial of Dragon's Blood, a powerful artifact, he sent Valita, one of his captains, to find it. Neither she nor any of her men returned, and were presumed dead. But months later, when Tarnum was trying to find the same artifact to free the dragons from Mutare's control, he found some of her men hiding on the wilderness on an island. They told him that the island was home to a pit fiend's prison, and that the demons had brought them there to be tortured, but captain Valita had helped the rest of them to escape. Unfortunately, she couldn't save herself, and had been tortured for months before Tarnum invaded the prison, killed the demons, and freed her. Tarnum made Valita one of his captains, and he trained her to use the sharpshooter's bow. She was a great archer, but Tarnum noticed that the once-respected leader had become quiet and solitary. He suspected that the months in the torture chambers had left their mark on her. The men under her command respected her skills, but never felt that she cared for them, or even for herself. When the enemy started to prepare more ambushes for Tarnum's soldiers, his advisor Aspen reasoned that there was a spy in their midst, and since the attacks had begun shortly after Valita became a captain, she became his prime suspect. Tarnum could see the logic, but told him that he wouldn't accuse anyone until Aspen could find some proof. In order to learn more about what was troubling Valita, Tarnum discretely asked his men if anyone knew Valita. None of them could help him, but one day, he spotted her in a friendly conversation with Kurbon, the Master of Supplies. Since the dwarf never said anything that wasn't a complaint, he guessed that they knew each other well. He asked Kurbon about her, and while he wouldn't reveal anything at first, he eventually told him that he trained Valita when Kurbon was still in the Forest Guard, and that she'd been his best student. He also told Tarnum that if he wanted to find out what was bothering Valita, he should ask her. One night, while they were eating their evening stew, Tarnum approached Valita and told her that she was too quiet for her own good, and that the men under her command didn't feel that they knew her. She was too distant to lead them like an officer should, and he asked her what was wrong, but she wouldn't answer. Scared that he was going to dismiss her from the army, Valita left the camp in the middle of the night, planning to hunt Mutare's forces on her own and hoping that she could kill many of them before she died. When Aspen's agents found her, Tarnum rode out alone and talked her into coming back. When they had returned to camp, they sat down with a bottle of wine and he asked her what had been bothering her. She drank her wine in silence for a long time, but finally admitted it was shame - during her imprisonment in the pit fiend's torture chambers, she eventually broke under the torture, revealing the location of her men, some of which were killed by the demons. Tarnum told her that he knew something about shame, and that she had done nothing to be ashamed of - she'd been tortured for more than three months, and no one would have been able to stand up to that. Some weeks later, while they were sitting in his tent playing chess, Valita asked him what he had done - what he was ashamed about. He told her a short version of his crimes as the Barbarian Tyrant. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, and Tarnum realized that not only did he understand her pain, but for once, someone understood his. One day, Aspen dragged a harpy into camp and showed Tarnum a coded message from the spy, which the harpy had been attempting to bring back to Mutare's forces. The harpy didn't know who the spy was, but the letter had been left pinned to the top of a tree by an elven arrow with black and green feathers. Elven arrows had unique fletching, every commander had their own, and Valita was the only one of them who had black and green feathers. The situation seemed clear, but Tarnum had a feeling that he'd been thinking about this too narrowly, and that they were being mislead. Once Aspen had cracked the code and translated the letter, he brought it to Tarnum, who called Valita into his tent to talk to her alone. He showed her the translated letter, but instead of accusing her, he leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed him back, and placing a hand on his hip, she asked him if he thought she was the spy. "No, I wouldn't kiss a spy." And he told her that he'd figured out who the real spy was. A few days later, Aspen rode into camp with another coded letter, ready to translate it, but just as he was about to talk to Tarnum about what it said, Kurbon shot him in the chest. With tears in her eyes, Valita realized that Tarnum had been right, and that Kurbon was the traitor. Unfortunately, the dwarf escaped before anyone could capture him. Valita and Tarnum were in love, but Tarnum knew that as the Immortal Hero, the Ancestors could call him away at any time for another of their errands, and he didn't want to get too close to her, since he knew they would lose each other sooner or later. He tried to keep emotionally distant, but realized that it was breaking her heart. When they learned that some of Mutare's dragons were attacking defenseless villages, Valita rode out to fight them, both to protect the innocent and to get away from Tarnum for a while. But Kurbon ambushed her and she was captured. The dwarf took her to Mutare and tried to set an ambush for Tarnum, but was unsuccessful and barely escaped with his life. Tarnum realized that he should have cherished every moment with Valita, even if they wouldn't be able to be together for the rest of their lives, and only hoped that he would be able to rescue her so that they could be together. But eventually, Kurbon's protectiveness for Valita overcame his fear of Mutare's forces, and he took Valita from the Dragon Queen's prison and fled with her, trying to bring her back to the elves. Mutare's dragons attacked his forces and Kurbon was killed, but Tarnum came across the battlefield and managed to save Valita. Once Tarnum and Valita were safe back in camp, Valita asked him to marry her. Tarnum wanted to make sure she knew about his past first, but she said that she didn't care. Gameplay Valita is a fifth-level Ranger. Valita doesn't automatically carry over to later scenarios, but will carry over if she is one of Tarnum's highest-level heroes. The player can choose to level another hero if they want a different specialty. She can open a quest guard leading to a neutral Rampart in The Dragon Mothers, but this is optional, and after this, she has no special gameplay significance. Trivia *Valita uses the portrait of fellow elven ranger Jenova. Category:Clash of the Dragons characters